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Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Women Involved: Rachel Weaver

Rachel
Weaver is the founder of Pin it Girls, an all-women gravity race team. She
lives in Santa
Fe, NM with her husband. Rachel is passionate about mountain biking, and Angel Fire
Bike park is her home mountain. While she rides dirt jumps and trail, downhill
is her true
love, and her favorite discipline to race.

Rachel
is currently racing Cat 1/Expert level Downhill and Dual Slalom. In 2015, her
goals are
to podium at USA Cycling Gravity Nationals, strive towards upgrading to Pro and
race as many
races as possible while being an ambassador for the sport.

In
2014, Rachel decided to start her own team because she wanted to inspire and
encourage women
in downhill racing and gravity sports.

One of her big disappointments was to
show up
at races and see only a few girls signed up, while there were hundreds of guys.
Rachel has
gained so very much life experience and joy from riding mountain bikes, and she wanted
to share that with other women while bringing together an amazing group of
racers who
just happen to be girls.

Now
with eight team members, four podiums at Gravity Nationals, wins at Central
States Cup
races, and a sixth place overall in the Big Mountain Enduro series, the team is
building momentum.
For 2015, Pin it Girls is proud to be sponsored by Angel Fire Bike Park, Schwalbe,
MTB Racing Solutions, Sombrio, and Smith Optics.

A
couple years ago, I was one of two women on a DH race team, and although all
those guys are great people, I just felt that the team was centered around
being a guy and that we weren’t really included. The sponsors were ones the
guys liked, we were wearing men’s shorts as part of the team kit, and the team
housing turned out to be a big party. It just wasn't what I wanted from being
on a team.

I
looked around at races and noticed the disparity between the men’s and women’s
fields. There would often be hundreds of guys and then only twenty women
competing. But I also had a few super talented friends and acquaintances who
were women racers. I thought; why not bring us all together in one team?

What did you
envision for your team? What do you hope to accomplish?

Our
mission statement is to inspire and encourage women in gravity mountain biking.
We have already accomplished a lot in our 2014 season. We held four Women’s
Ride Days at Angel Fire Bike Park where we introduce women who may be new to
lift access biking to the mountain. Our ride days are a chance for the women
who might have only been able to ride with their boyfriends or husbands, or by
themselves, to connect with other female gravity riders and get stoked to ride.

We
got the word out about our team with Pinkbike articles and tons of Facebook
media, so I was able to secure some big name sponsors for 2015.

We
have lots of plans for this coming season. We will be hosting group trail rides
in Albuquerque, a Women’s Freeride Day in Santa Fe, sponsoring three skills
clinics with Pro racer Chris Boice that are open to the public, and sweeping
some podiums at enduro and DH races. I would like to see us continue to grow
and be well known in the greater bike community so we can influence girls and
women coming into mountain biking.

Over the next 5
years, what would you like to see happen with women and racing?

What
I want to see is already happening… I want to see women be able to be feminine
and tough, and to show that this dichotomy is how women can be successful in
gravity racing. Women are never going to be as fast or as aggressive as the
male pro riders. It simply is a matter of physiological limitation. So what
women racers need to do is find their strengths and stop trying to ride, train,
race and look like the guys.

I feel that some of the young women in the
World Cup series are doing this very successfully like Mannon Carpenter and
Tawnee Seagrave. They clearly have a unique style of riding, and they get off
the bike and get dressed up and do their hair and look like a girl, but they
also bring home the medals and garner big sponsorships. Hannah Barnes is doing
this in the enduro world as well.

What were the
challenges of creating a team, if any?

It
was a whole new world to me. Fortunately my husband is talented at creating
websites and knew how to get that set up, which was kind of the first step
beyond asking if all the girls wanted to be on a team. I just dreamed big, and
sent out a bunch of sponsorship letters to companies I wanted to represent.
Sometimes I never heard back and sometimes if I really wanted it, I had to be
persistent.

Angel
Fire Bike Park has been amazing to us. A couple of the girls on the team had
connections so we were able to get sponsored by them right away. Angel Fire is
most of the racers’ local mountain, so we love being partnered with them. It’s
like being home.

I
do have to hustle all the time- I’m teased by the team because I’m always
taking photos of them or getting on social media, but that’s what sponsors
want; exposure. It can be a little challenging managing eight people’s jersey
orders or team housing, but it’s all worth it in the long run!

What do you love
about your team? Why are you positive role models for future riders?

I
just love every one of the girls on the team, and how very different people we
all are, but we’re united by our love for this sport. As I wrote on our
website, there is nothing better than women riding together and encouraging our
growth as racers and riders. The synergy of pushing each other in competition
and gaining confidence is magical.

Each
of us is an awesome role model in our own way- Jennifer is a small business
owner and is naturally talented on the bike. Jill has a PhD in Engineering and
is pretty much fearless. Traci is a mom to a three year old, works full time
and is amazingly graceful on the bike. Terah just finished her Masters degree
in Accounting and could go Pro this year in DH. Kristen is an Engineer and put
more miles in racing and training for Enduro last season than the rest of us
combined. Lisa is multi- talented on her DH bike and Moto. Makayla got a
cycling scholarship to college, and won her category at Nationals.

What would you like
people to know about Pin It Girls and how can they support you?

We
aren't just about racing. Our biggest joys as a team come from helping other
women get out and ride, sign up for their first race, or try that drop they
have never done before. We hope women who don't even live in the Rocky
Mountains find us on Instagram and Facebook, and get inspired to have fun on
their bikes.

As
far as helping us out- follow us on social media! And we are still looking for sponsors,
of course!

What do you feel
deters women from getting involved with cycling? Especially mountain biking?

I
think women are either put-off by the “just huck it” mentality of many of the
guys in the sport, or they simply have never been given the opportunity to see
female mountain bikers who are strong, fast and feminine.

I
do know that lift access biking can be intimidating to any first-timer, let
alone women.

I
wouldn't have ever tried it if it weren't for my husband. I recall the first
time I went to a new bike park after only riding Angel Fire, it was Trestle in
Winter Park, Colorado, and I was so scared about the whole thing I sat on the
curb by our car and cried for five minutes. My poor husband didn't know what to
do…turns out I had a great day riding and loved it. I was just afraid of the
unknown.

I
also think women like to do a sport that comes with fun accessories and
clothes. Think about the popularity of yoga, and how so much of it is the cool
mat, and the cute yoga pants and outfits. Once bike companies realize there is
a market for this, I think we’ll see more women signing up. An example of this
is road biking where kits, bikes and shoes are increasingly being marketed and
made for women. There are so many more women getting into road cycling than
gravity mountain biking.

What do you feel
could happen to make changes and/or encourage more women to ride?

Once
again, it’s a change of culture. I’m not talking about watering it down, or
taking the danger out. It’s about being strong and fit while wearing mascara
and putting pink grips on your bike. It’s about taking the largest drop while
the guy behind you goes around it. It’s about riding the lift with three
girlfriends and talking about your favorite tire in the same breath as your
favorite perfume. It’s waiting at the start line of a DH race being nervous
together and reassuring each other, then knowing at the five, four, three
countdown you are the fiercest competitors. It’s having videos of female riders
ripping it up on Pinkbike. It’s Five/Ten putting out a women’s Freerider shoe
that’s just as good as their men’s. It’s bike companies using women riders in
their magazine ads. It’s already happening…

What inspires you
to encourage women to ride?

I
see it most clearly with the eight and nine year olds I coach. I watch them be
a little scared and then give it a go and see their confidence build. I know
from my own experience that confidence built in that moment goes very far. It
flows into their school (work) lives, relationships and choices they make to be
true to themselves. Nothing in my life has been more empowering than my journey
of being a mountain biker, and I am so grateful to be able to share that.